First Time For Everything

This is the first black race riot in St. Louis history. As far as riots go, this one was pretty weak, though I don’t think it’s over yet. For one, these kinds of things take 72 hours to wear out, and for another, Al Sharpton is coming to town, so just his coming might recharge their batteries.

A couple of things to remember:

* This should prove once and for all that crime causes poverty and not the other way around.

* Race riots are not expressions of racial hopelessness and despair, they are expressions of racial power. Note that before 1963, almost all race riots were white-led, including two in East St. Louis in the summer of 1917. After 1963, they have been almost all black-led.

* Until this weekend, St. Louis was riot free because the cops historically did a good job instilling a sense of fear…